Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,20

kind of look you might give a lost puppy that you found abandoned in the cold, wet rain. “You’re hair…it’s cute.”

My free hand rushed up to my head as I smoothed my palm over my hair to verify the alleged ‘cuteness’ and then cringed as I felt a huge bird’s nest type situation at the back of my head. Great. I had bed hair. Just perfect.

My cheeks flushed with heat as I combed my fingers through it without meeting his eyes. His quiet, husky laugh swept through the room, making me blush even harder.

Avoiding his eyes, I swapped my fork for the spoon and then dug into the mac and cheese.

“You want to talk about what happened yesterday?” he asked, his baritone voice taking on a serious edge.

I gave my head a quick shake and then took another bite, still not looking at him.

“How long are you going to keep letting him do this to you?”

Shame and guilt melded inside of me, turning my stomach around and eviscerating my appetite. I dropped my spoon into the dish and then pushed my plate away. “I don’t want to talk about this, Trace.”

“You mean you don’t want to talk about it with me,” he guessed as he pushed the plate back in front of me.

“I mean I can’t talk about it.” I met his eyes and faltered. “I wish I could, but I can’t. Not yet.”

His eyes searched mine. “Because you don’t trust me?”

I ignored that particular question on purpose. “Because it’s…too much. I wouldn’t know where to start even if I wanted to, which I don’t.” The last thing I wanted to do was talk about Dominic with Trace. I pushed the plate away again as the familiar sting of sorrow burned the corners of my eyes.

“Alright,” he said simply as he skimmed a French-fry from my plate. “I guess I’ll wait then.”

I looked up at him. “You’ll wait? You know I’m not going to change my mind tonight, right?”

“Then I’ll wait longer,” he said with a wink. “Tomorrow morning good or do you need a little more time?”

“Tomorrow mor—” I burst out laughing. “Wow. Thanks…I really needed that,” I said as the tears that had been getting ready to fall retreated.

“I know.” He grinned triumphantly as he grabbed another French-fry and then met my eyes.

I shook my head. “You think you have me all figured out, huh?”

“Nah,” he said as he picked up my spoon and took a bite of my mac and cheese. “But I will.” The look of determination in his eyes made my stomach do a dropkick.

I snatched the spoon from him and scooped up some mac and cheese as he attacked the chicken wings. “How can you be so confident about us when you don’t even remember what happened between us in the first place?” Disappointment crept into his eyes and I instantly regretted my words. “Shit. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

“I know you didn’t mean anything by it.” He pushed his hands through his hair and let out a frustrated breath. “Look, I wish I could remember everything that happened before my accident, but I can’t change what is. The only thing I can tell you is that I don’t need to know where I came from to know where I’m going. The past doesn’t matter to me even half as much as the future does, and I know you’re my future, Jemma. I’ve already seen it, and it doesn’t matter what—”

“Wait a minute,” I interjected, stopping him as he tried to bite into another chicken wing. “Did you just say you’ve seen it? Like you saw us together in the future?” I know I didn’t hear that right.

His jaw muscle pulsed, as though he hadn’t realized what he’d said, and then a single, curt nod.

I stared back at him for a beat, waiting for him to tell me he was kidding. Only he never did. “How is that possible? Did you pick up some Seer abilities along with that amnesia of yours?” I asked semi-teasingly, wanting to lighten the mood but also in desperate need of more information.

Another deep chuckle sounded through the room. “Nah, I didn’t pick up any extra abilities.”

“Then how do you know we’re going to be together? What makes you so sure about it?” I asked, needing to know the full story behind his words. The truth was, this wasn’t the first time Trace had said something like this. It was the exact same thing he used to say